Kelly Jones, RD Optimal Nutrition for Performance and Longevity 04/29/2020

Kelly Jones: Optimal Nutrition for Performance and
Longevity

 


Is there a perfect diet for runners? What about macros? What are
the common mistakes made when switching to a plant-forward diet?
Kelly Jones provides her thoughts on these topics as well as body
size, glycogen depleted runs, intuitive eating, and more in this
episode hosted by Coach Claire Bartholic. 


 


Kelly is a board certified specialist in sports dietetics,
focusing on performance nutrition for endurance sports. She has
consulted with high level organizations such as USA Swimming, the
Philadelphia Phillies and New York Road Runners, and has been
featured as an publications such as Runner’s World, US News and
World Report, Women’s Running, and Women’s Health. 


 


Her career began as an Associate Professor of Nutrition for
nine-years in Pennsylvania and before that she was a Division I
athlete in swimming.  Today, as a mom and business owner,
Kelly continues to compete in road races and triathlons, and
creates recipes and resources that offer practical solutions to
optimize physical and mental performance.


Although Kelly works with many kinds of athletes, in this episode
she focuses her expertise specifically on performance nutrition
for runners. She delivers a positive message about fueling
properly for running as well as for living your optimal
life. 


 


Kelly uses an evidence-based nutrition approach, focusing on what
she calls "plant forward performance nutrition." With so many of
us quarantined right now, it’s easy for us to neglect our
nutrition. Especially with the potential disruptions to the meat
industry, it’s more important than ever for us to find ways to
add plants to our diets in a way that optimizes performance.
Questions Kelly is asked:

 


2:43 You specialize in performance nutrition for endurance
sports.  Can you explain exactly what that means and how you
work with athletes?


3:56 What is the best diet?


5:23 What’s the difference between eating for performance vs.
eating for longevity?


6:53 How do you feel about eating whole foods during training and
races to avoid sugar?


9:04 What’s your philosophy with macros (Carbs, Protein, Fat)?


11:59 Timing wise, when should you eat what?


14:25 What about glycogen depleted runs?


15:44 What is your experience with race-weight, performance,
orthorexia, etc…?


19:07 How do you find the balance between eating for fuel and
eating just the right amount?


20:50 What do you mean ‘plant forward nutrition approach’?


22:28 What are the challenges with plant-based eating with
nutrient deficiency and performance?


25:10 How do you help people to trust their body when it comes to
eating?


27:26 Do you find that our bodies adapt easily to new eating
habits?


28:52 What advice would you give yourself back when you started
running?


29:55 What is the best gift running has given you?


30:29 How can people connect with you?
Quotes by Kelly:

 


“For anyone, I still would recommend inclusion of more plants no
matter what you’re trying to follow”


 


“Could you still train and race with less carbohydrates than what
might be recommended? Sure, but are you going to feel as
energized physically and mentally as you should? Are you going to
perform as well? That’s the question.”


 


“I’m a big advocate for eating your energy before you need to use
it.”


 


“The glycogen depleted runs, while there’s a lot of people
talking about them, there isn’t a lot of research to support
them. And what I try to help people understand too is that you
might see there’s one study on something, but that doesn’t mean
that the practice is what we call evidence based.”


 


“I try to tell people too, if you have a run where you’re not
feeling energized, where it’s mentally hard to get through, it’s
physically hard to get through, how is that going to help you get
closer to your goal?”


 


“We don’t really have good evidence that a smaller body size is
actually going to benefit racing, but we do have a lot of
evidence… that a smaller body size can actually impair your
health in the short and long term, and may impair performance
more in the long term.”


 


“When you’re not mentally healthy, it’s really hard to have any
other areas of your health work well too.”


 


“You might be trying to work towards racing optimally, but what
about living the rest of your life in an optimal way too?”


 


“It takes work to eat intuitively, but then it’s never something
that you have to do again in the future.”


Take a Listen on Your Next Run


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Mentioned in this podcast: 

 


Run To The Top Winners Circle Facebook Community


RunnersConnect Facebook page


Kelly Jones Nutrition






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